Heartstop
by Weezila
Summary: Connor is strong, but has no control. Robin is small, but has quite a lot of it. Connor is easily frustrated, while Robin isn't bothered by a lot. Training is a very different experience for each of them, especially when they train together. Sometimes, accidents happen. And sometimes, accidents can make your world stop turning.


**Hello internet. **

**I bet you didn't know that I was sadistic, did you?**

**Well, after you read this you'll know that for a fact. **

**This is just the what-if scenario you get when a super-clone and a little boy are training together. Accidents happen you know. **

**Enjoy!**

**0000000000000**

Connor's fist smacked into the concrete wall and a spider web of cracks appeared, right where Robin had been standing not a split second before.

"Connor! Control your anger! The goal is not actually to _hurt _him- just incapacitate!" Canary barked, circling carefully around the platform as she watched the two spar with hawk-like eyes.

"I'm _trying!"_ Connor growled, gritting his teeth hard and clenching his fists in frustration. The Boy Wonder paused in his dodging techniques to slip out of his opponent's range and consider his aggravated friend.

"It's ok Con, we know you can do it, and this is just practice, don't worry." He comforted smoothly, and Connor tried to take a deep breath and clear his head. He tried to remind himself that no one beat Robin easily, not even Kaldar or Artemis, and he didn't have a third their skill at hand-to-hand combat.

Still, he couldn't help the rush of energy flooding his limbs every time he missed a hit, probably stemming from his frustration and what Canary explained as adrenaline, and the taunting Robin was so fond of wasn't exactly helping, though the younger boy seemed to realize he should start backing off. The young hero bantered naturally when he fought, mostly to tick his typically bigger and stronger opponents off into underestimating him (and, you know, for the fun of it seeing as he was still a child and seemed to find endless amusement in it), but the light-hearted, mocking repartee was doing nothing for Conner's nerves.

He took another dragged out breath, and Robin didn't move to attack, letting him have the moment to collect himself. "I can do it," he repeated to himself, just like Artemis had told him to. Apparently saying it even if he didn't believe it was supposed to help, though he didn't understand why.

"Of course you can," Robin agreed whole-heartedly, and his eager determination and faith in the uncontrolled boy gave Superboy a surge of confidence. Robin slipped into his fighting stance again, but didn't make the taunting comment usually associated with the start of a match.

Superboy lunged again, and Robin easily dodged it.

He struck out again, and again, and again, but hit only air.

Robin cackled once as he did an impressive flip out of the way of a wild kick from Superboy, and Conner grit his teeth.

_No!_ He scolded himself. Robin was NOT mocking him, he was just proud of himself for the complex move. The younger boy pushed his chest out in pride at the successful new move, and looked just like any other kid being proud of a good test score or something. Conner's anger dissolved.

Easily angered as he was, he was equally quick to calm down when with Robin or Megan in the room, just being there. As fast as his temper spiked when fighting Robin, it dropped just as quickly.

Again and again and again and again Connor missed.

Wally started cheering him on while Artemis called out suggestions, but it only confused him more, and made him sloppier. Robin started bantering with Wally instead, as an outlet, but his division of attention combined with the fact he was still creaming Superboy only made the super strong teen more irritated.

"Superboy!" Canary snapped as he let an angry growl escape his lips and thrash out in rage rather than aim.

"Perhaps we should stop." Kaldar said in a mellow voice, but they brushed him off.

"No, he can do it," Robin insisted, giving Connor an award-winning grin of pride, but Connor only half-felt the reassurance through his anger.

"He needs to learn." Canary declared, signaling for them to start again.

Connor involuntarily recalled Superman's derisive words of insisting a clone could never learn to think for himself, and his mood spiraled. Suddenly, every missed hit became an echo of Superman's disappointed, disgusted scowl when he first saw his clone, and every failed move became yet another reason he would never be Superman.

It wasn't fair.

It wasn't right.

It wasn't ok.

Instead of becoming depressed, he got angry. Strength surged to every cell of his body and he fought the urge to scream in frustration and despair.

Robin's mask widened as it did when his eyes bugged out, and he opened his mouth to say something just as Superboy struck out in rage at being as useless as his supposed mentor claimed him to be. Striking out, and not thinking he'd ever been good enough to actually succeed.

But he did.

Despite the Kevlar and armor and thick protection the boy wore, all Superboy could think of was how soft whatever his palm connected with was. It seemed to bend beneath his touch as easily as pressing a hand into a soft pillow.

The tiny boy before him was thrown backward and launched across the arena, his back making full contact with the wall, and another spider web of cracks, only this time much bigger than the one his fist had made earlier, spreading out from where the boy seemed to plow halfway through the wall. He fell to the floor, lifelessly, and did not move again.

Superboy started with wide, shocked eyes, his palm still held in front of him, still frozen in surprise where it'd made contact.

"_Robin!"_ He wasn't sure who said it, but he was fairly certain more than one person yelled it.

Wally was by his friend's side in an instant, everyone rushing forward as well. "He's not breathing!" the speedster shrieked and he held the smaller boy in his arms.

"Put him down!" Canary screeched, helping the red head lower Robin back to the ground and resting her ear against his chest, feeling his neck for a pulse. "M'gann, contact J'onn, tell him to meet us in the League sick bay; Wally, set up the zeta tubes for transport to the Watchtower." Canary commanded them, and they disappeared to their tasks with tight eyes.

She made to move like she was going to start CPR, but stopped before he hands even rested completely on his chest. She yanked her hands back as if she'd been electrocuted, looking down at the boy in horror. She gently placed one hand on his chest again, right over his heart, barely even touching him. This time, they all saw the sickening way his chest didn't resist against her touch, like it'd turned to jello.

"Kaldar," She choked out in a stressed whisper. "Use your water bearers- give him a shock to get his heart started… be careful..." She told him, and the team leader nodded solemnly, charging up his weapons.

Arcs of mini-lightning reached out to Robin before Kaldar's hands even touched him, and they flinched automatically as Robin's back arched with the electrifying shock. At first nothing happened, and they waited in tense silence.

"Again." Artemis pleaded, and Kaldar nodded again with wide, frightened eyes.

This time, Robin inhaled sharply, his back arching painfully, before he began to gasp in small, pained breaths.

"Shhh," Canary hushed him as he tried to breath and completely failed. "You're chest's collapsed, we're taking you to the med bay, just try to relax…" She told him, eyes tight with stress.

"N-not-!" he gasped.

"Shhh! Robin, don't say anything!" Canary pleaded. "Artemis, get Megan to see if she can levitate him, I don't want to risk picking him up," She said, and the archer dashed off. Wally appeared just where she'd been standing.

"Thank god dude-" Wally breathed in relief when he saw his friend away, but stopped dead at the state he was in.

"N-n-not-!" Robin gasped. "h-hi-is!"

"Please, lie still," Canary commanded him as he struggled to reach out to the side, glancing over her shoulder to where Megan and Artemis would return.

"N-no!" Robin snapped even though his lungs shouldn't have allowed him to breath much less talk.

"Rob, please…" Wally whimpered , and came closer as Robin grabbed his arm.

"N-not….h-hi-is…f-fa-ault…" Robin gasped desperately. "…p-ple-ase.." He begged, before seeming to lose all his energy and collapse back to the ground, gasping in vain for the breath that would not come through the crushed bones and organs in his chest. They looked worriedly at him, freakin out some more, but all Superboy could do was watch in terror.

Horror.

Shock.

Self loathing.

Oh, so much self loathing.


End file.
